Stories for July 1st 2017

The Swedish multinational brand H & M, known for its trendy clothing at affordable prices and which is present in 64 countries with a total of 4.300 stores, Friday announced on its website its plans to open stores in Uruguay and Ukraine by 2018.

Barcelona football star and Argentine international Lionel Messi (30) and his life-long partner Antonella Roccuzzo (29), were married Friday evening in their native Rosario, some 200 miles northwest of Buenos Aires amid large-scale international press coverage. The couple already has two sons - Thiago (4) and Mateo (1).

The number of students brought into custody by Venezuela's régime during opposition protests in the past three months amounted to 62 by Friday, according to Daniel Ascanio of the Simón Bolívar University students grouping.

Brazil went through Friday's general strike, the second of its kind called for by labour unions against the economic reforms President Michel Temer intends to bring about, with business nearly unaffected in major cities, Brasilia excluded. Temer's personal involvement in alleged cases of corruption seemed to have had little or no impact on the workers' decision.